Praise God that He determines all things

"We thank God almighty that the Bible does not teach the lie that man has free will. We are grateful to God that the Bible reveals to us that Jehovah determines all things, especially the will of man - and that no created being has free will. The Bible says: 'Every man's judgment cometh from the Lord' Proverbs 29:26. This simple and clear declarative verse from the Book of Proverbs teaches Biblical determinism. Notice that this verse does NOT say: 'Although every man has free will, every man's judgment also cometh from the Lord.' No, the Bible will not, and does not contradict itself - despite the claims of Van Tilians and Compatibilist." - Monty L. Collier, A Unique Kind Of Righteousness, pg. 84

Jude 4 on the reprobates

Jude 4 says that there were certain men who crept in unawares, who were ordained of old to the condemnation, these men we are told turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.
The question is what does this mean? Those who, like Catholics, labeling themselves reformed, teach that we are saved by grace alone but this grace is infused unto us so that we work. Of course, this means according to them that if you are not working you have serious reasons to doubt whether you're saved.

However, the verse in question doesn't so much hint that these men lacked evangelical works. Another said set of verses used to attack the truth of free and unconditional grace is Matthew 7 but with clear study of the passage hardly speaks against such. But as far as this verse in Jude goes these men turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. They take the unadulterated gospel of Christ and they do not believe it but rather they disbelieve it. These men therefore disbelieve the truth and so therefore they turn the grace into lasciviousness. Other verses that present this is found in Romans 2:4-5. The mistake by the many so-called Calvinist today is that God is patient with both the elect and reprobate and so therefore wants both to be saved. This is far from the facts as say Proverbs 16:4 says that the reprobates are made for destruction and that they are like natural brute beast as 2 Peter 2:12 says.
For God he is patient with the elect alone not wanting any to perish but that all to come to the knowledge of the truth. For the sake of the elect is God longsuffering towards the reprobate.

My sin is ever before me but I am saved by Grace alone in Christ alone

The lordshiper says if you're sinning then it must mean you are not actually saved. But, why such drastic assumptions? Why is it not because the Lordshiper has not himself submitted fully to his damnable doctrine? Why not say rather that a Christian is one who knows that they are sinners and because of that they turn to Christ in hope for salvation? Thereby why not address it at the heart of the matter, a Christian, one who accepts the gospel alone for life and sustenance, still sins the same sins that the non-elect sin and yet the cause of such horrible things is for us not to trust in ourselves but rather to turn to Christ and rest in him by faith aloneMy goal is to live honorably before the Lord. This might seem strange coming from someone who holds to the five points of grace and who is not a lordshiper. But, in reality I know I am a sinner and that I sin continually even when I am not thinking of it at the time my sinful thoughts are always before me but I know that the gospel only relieves me of the condemnation that my sins deserve. I try to stay out of trouble and try to live rightly and at peace with all men in so far as I can. Sometimes it doesn't help and so I say after I fall "glad that is over!"

God is the one who is the determiner of all things

You see the problem with the Arminian interpretation of Genesis 45:4 and Genesis 50:20 is that their interpretation does not deal properly with the text of Scripture. It is one thing to say that these are the ONLY text in which we see that " ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good." But, it is not and the things leading up to this point present to us that God not only was working within this situation but was Himself the cause AND determiner of it all (including the acts of evil men).

God determined them to that which is good

All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by his almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.

The Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 10 section 1



This is really interesting because those whom God predestined unto life at the appointed time they were effectually called by the word and Spirit enlightening their minds taking away their heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh by his almighty power, in which they were determined to that which is good.
Today we have many who profess Calvinism and yet still hold to a theory of free will. But not the WCF. It says that God determined them to that which is good.

Nothing is outside of God's governing control He does as he pleases

Does God Determine Sin?
by
Monty L. Collier
Whenever we discuss God’s absolute predestination of all things, the following question is often raised: Did God determine sin?
The Bible answers this question very clearly.
Let’s begin with the worst sin ever created, then, let’s move on to the rest.
If you have read your Bible, you know the worst sin ever committed was determined by God. The murder of Jesus, which is simultaneously the vicarious sacrifice for God's elect, was determined by God almighty!
"For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done."
(Acts 4:27-28)
If the worst sin was determined by God, then what of all other sins?—were they also determined by God?
The Bible says: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things" (Isaiah 45:7).
No evil deed is done without God's absolute predestination! Consider the following rhetorical question from Scripture:
"Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?"
(Lamentations 3:38)
"Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?"
(Amos 3:6)
Job knew that God determined both good and evil deeds:
"What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips."
(Job 2:10)
Consider false prophets; they are not merely deceived by chance, but rather: God causes them to believe lies!
"And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet."
(Ezekiel 14:9)
"Now, therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee."
(1 Kings 22:23)
In short, God determines all the events of history, both good and bad, and if you don't like it, too bad. The Bible says:
"Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?"
(Romans 9:19-21)
So, let us remember, when we say the God of the Bible is sovereign, we are claiming the God of the Bible determines all things. From the smallest and seemingly unimportant events to the greatest events in history, God determines them all. Old School Primitive Baptist Gilbert Beebe correctly stated:
“By the term sovereign, as it applies to God, we are not to understand an arbitrary or tyrannical being, but quite the reverse; an all-wise disposer of all events, an independent, self-existent, and omniscient God; one who holds the eternal destiny of his creatures in his own almighty grasp, working all things after the counsel of his own will, even as he has ordained all things for his own glory; and being independent of and superior to all beings in heaven or on earth, has an incontestable right to do his pleasure in heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; having a right to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor; to have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will to harden; to reveal his gospel unto “babes and sucklings,” and to hide the same from the “wise and prudent,” to love Jacob and to hate Esau, to save his people with an everlasting salvation, and to turn the wicked into hell, with all the nations that forget God.”
(Editorials of Gilbert Beebe, Volume 1, pages 13-14)
Consider how God is independent of and superior to all beings. Sinful man may dream of being independent of God, but God alone is self-existent and independent. While commenting on Psalm 50:9-13, John Calvin stops to discuss Isaiah 66:1-2. These two verses from Isaiah read: “Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made” (Isaiah 66:1-2). Calvin comments:
“In these words God asserts his absolute independence; for while the world had a beginning, he himself was from eternity. From this it follows, that as he subsisted when there was nothing without him which could contribute to his fullness, he must have in himself a glorious all-sufficiency.”
(Calvin’s Commentaries, Volume V, page 269)
Hence, it is impossible for man to ever be independent from God. Man would cease to exist, if he could become free from God. The Bible says:
“For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.”
(Acts 17:28)
Obviously, all of this implies that God has free-will, while man does not. The comprehensive teaching of the Bible is clear: at no point has man’s will ever been free from God’s determination. Martin Luther correctly wrote the following:
“For if we believe it to be true, that God fore-knows and fore-ordains all things; that He can be neither deceived nor hindered in His Prescience and Predestination; and that nothing can take place but according to His Will, (which reason herself, there can be no “Free-will”—in man, in angel, or in any creature!
“Hence: if we believe that Satan is the prince of this world, ever ensaring and fighting against the kingdom of Christ with all his powers; and that he does not let go his captives without being forced by the Divine Power of the Spirit; it is manifest, that there can be no such thing—as “Free-will!””
(The Bondage of the Will, Section 167, page 241 [Henry Cole Translation])
But does not God’s absolute predestination of all things imply that men are not responsible for their thoughts and deeds?
No, for the Bible teaches there are two primary things which make men responsible before God:
1) God's sovereign ability to call men to give a response for their thoughts and deeds (see Romans 9:19-21)
2) Man's knowledge of God's moral law, which makes him / her responsible (see Luke 12:47: "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.")
Finally, even our conversational English has been determined to reflect basic Calvinism, for parents tell their children: "You’re going to be punished, for you KNEW not to do that." No parent says: "Now, Johnny, you have free-will, and you will be punished for using your arbitrary-power-of-contrary-choice incorrectly"--LOL!

Determinism

"There are some Christians, even some who have been raised in Presbyterian homes and churches, who dislike the idea of determinism. These people, to varying degrees, have been infected with the Arminian notion of a free will, a will independent of God. But the Confession is not afraid of determinism. Note carefully that the effectual or effective call occurs by God's 'renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus powerful than any alleged physical determinism. the sinner comes 'freely,' i.e. voluntarily, not in spite of but because of the fact that God controlled his will and made him willing.
The reason it is so necessary to insist on divine determinism and to rebut any doctrine of a will free and independent of god's causative power is that man since the fall is dead in sin, cannot will to accept Christ, and is wholly dependent on grace. Thus section ii not only ties in with section I, but also depends on chapter VI." - Gordon H. Clark, What Do Presbyterians Believe?